Stream of Consciousness

How Stream of Consciousness Writing Helps Songwriters

Stream of consciousness writing means to put down your thoughts as they occur to you – literally a continuous stream of thoughts, ideas, opinions in as close to real time as you can get.

One of the most interesting (some might say negative) characteristics of stream of consciousness is the fact that there is no time for correction. No editing. It’s simply whatever you think, in one long continuous narrative.


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Writers of words find stream of consciousness writing useful, because it can stimulate the imagination, allowing authors to explore the inner minds of their novel’s characters.

Stream of consciousness writing can help songwriters, too. And because as a songwriter you may be working out melodies, chords, as well as lyrics, stream of consciousness can be a tremendously interesting activity that takes on several different forms.

If you find that your songwriter’s imagination has been a bit lacking for you lately, some spontaneous stream of consciousness writing might help. Here are some tips and ideas:

  1. Get inside a character’s mind. As a songwriter, that character is often you. So start talking/writing about… anything. No, it doesn’t need to be about your song topic, it can be about whatever gets you forming opinions, thoughts or other ruminations. You might try a combination of talking and writing. Find your voice, and write down words and phrases that you think could work their way into your song’s lyric.
  2. Get into a melodic flow. Try this: create  3- or 4-chord progression, play through it several times to cement it into your musical brain, and then try improvising melodies quickly and on-the-spot. Move your improvisations to different vocal ranges. Sing random words, phrases, and try different volumes.
  3. Try keyboard improvisations. This works even if you aren’t primarily a keyboardist. It’s a great instrument for creating both melody and chords at the same time. Just sit down and play. Create melodic/chord shapes and ideas, and don’t worry too much about whether what you’re playing is making a lot of harmonic sense. The abstract, avant garde nature of what you’re doing will spark your musical imagination.

It’s important not to correct what you’re doing. Simply let your musical mind loose, and allow the ideas of any one moment lead naturally to the next ones, without specific pre-planning or anticipation.

Stream of consciousness writing can make you feel awkward or self conscious, because we’re so used to editing and correcting our artistic output as we produce it. But at the same time, stream of consciousness has the ability to prompt you to lose your inhibitions, and can allow you to discover thoughts and opinions you didn’t know you held.

I’ve always loved this example of what sounds like several stream of consciousness events occurring at the same time: Luciano Berio’s “Sinfonia” (3rd movement.) Give it a listen. It’s strange, but fascinating at the same time:


Gary EwerWritten by Gary Ewer. Follow Gary on Twitter.

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